MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Covid 19: Milei wants WHO Chief tried for human rights violations

“We will never forget” what the WHO under Tedros did, Milei warned

Argentine President Javier Milei announced Thursday that he intends to hold World Health Organization (WHO) Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus accountable “for crimes against humanity” given the measures recommended and adopted during the Covid-19 pandemic. Earlier this week, the South American country left the WHO, thus following in on US President Donald Trump's steps.

Ghebreyesus has been at the helm of the WHO since 2017. It would be the first time a national government brings the head of a UN agency before the ICC.

Milei said he would denounce Adhanom Ghebreyesus before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for his policies between 2020 and 2023. The Libertarian leader contends that the WHO-encouraged lockdowns subjected citizens from all over the world to “crimes of slavery” and “inhuman acts.”

”We will never forget that they were the ideologists of the caveman quarantine that implied, according to the Rome Statute of 1998 (art 7.k) committing, in complicity with all the States that took its directives, one of the most outlandish crimes against humanity in history,“ Milei wrote on social media.

”Together with the government of Alberto Fernández, they led us to the longest confinement in the history of mankind and to the lack of independence in the face of the political influence of some states. We Argentines will not allow an international organization to intervene in our sovereignty, much less in our health,“ Presidential Spokesman Manuel Adorni said earlier this week when announcing Argentina's decision to part with the United Nations agency.

Milei accuses Tedros Adhanom of violating Article 7 of the Rome Statute, which condemns crimes of slavery and inhumane acts. Specifically, he considers that the WHO director violated paragraphs c and k of the article: Subparagraph C criminalizes the crime of slavery, defined as ”the exercise of the attributes of the right of ownership over a person“ and subparagraph K condemns ”other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.”

The Libertarian leader believes that the WHO's measures had negative consequences in terms of deaths, general welfare, and global economic impact. In his view, constitutional guarantees and fundamental human rights were violated during the pandemic. In addition to the complaint against the WHO director, a series of decisions regarding the handling of the pandemic in Argentina are planned, including audits and complaints to local courts.

The Libertarian administration also announced that vaccine contracts, decrees, and resolutions signed by Alberto Fernández and former Health Ministers Ginés González García and Carla Vizzotti were to be investigated, as well as the role of the committee of experts advising authorities.

Adhanom Ghebreyesus reportedly tried to approach Milei during the G20 Summit in Brazil last year, but the Libertarian leader avoided all contact.

Brazil

Although serious Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) cases due to Covid-19 improved in the last week of January, five Brazilian States were still recording an increasing trend: Amapá, Amazonas, Pará, Rondônia, and Tocantins, Agencia Brasil reported citing the Boletim Infrogripe released Thursday by the Rio de Janeiro-based Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz).

According to the bulletin, the incidence of cases associated with coronavirus is higher in children and the elderly, but mortality has been higher among patients over 65 years of age.